After former chief strategist for the president, Steve Bannon, warnedSenate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Saturday that he will wage a “season of war” by backing more than a dozen Republican primary challengers against establishment Republicans, Donald Trump said on Monday that he will see “if we can talk him out of that, because frankly, they’re great people.”

Donald Trump on Monday threw a life raft to the most unpopular Republican in Congress, publicly expressing his support for Mitch McConnell and pledging to ask his anti-establishment friends to leave the Senate leader and his friends alone.

Until Monday, the Senate Majority Leader’s reputation as a canny tactician had taken a beating this year. Major legislation stalled. Critics from his own party called for his ouster. His approval rating was far below that of other congressional leaders from either party.

Then along came Trump on Monday, standing beside the Kentucky Republican in the Rose Garden, praising him as a leader who shares his agenda and pledging to ask McConnell’s chief antagonist to lay off the Senate leader’s GOP allies.

“We are probably now, at least as far as I’m concerned, closer than ever before,” Trump said, declaring a friendship with McConnell that predates either man’s life in politics. “The relationship is very good.”